


i think that possibly, maybe i'm falling for you

by delightfulalot



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, Parks and Rec AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-16
Updated: 2015-04-16
Packaged: 2018-03-23 04:57:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3755278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delightfulalot/pseuds/delightfulalot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>"I can't wait 'til you two get married," Niall says, and Louis balls up a sheet of paper and throws it at him. </em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>louis is the deputy director of parks and recreation for a bankrupt town. harry's the guy who's come in to tell louis just what exactly he can't do without money. aka, the parks and rec au where louis is leslie and harry is ben</p>
            </blockquote>





	i think that possibly, maybe i'm falling for you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [grindlarry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/grindlarry/gifts).



> i hope you like this! it's not QUITE what you asked for so i hope that's ok. it ended up being a weird mashup of "the fight" and "freddy spaghetti" episodes, mainly so i could include louis calling harry "mean harry" and also have louis and harry at a pub together in the middle of the day. :) 
> 
> thanks as always go to j for betaing. title is a line from landon pigg's "falling in love at a coffee shop". there is some talk about drinking/hangovers but nothing out of line with the show.

“Don’t look now,” Zayn says with his head angled toward his drink, his eyes the only thing focused on the door behind Louis, “but I think Mean Harry is here.” 

Louis immediately stands and starts turning to look at the door but Zayn hisses “I said _don’t_ look” at him so Louis drops back into his seat. It’s probably slightly more conspicuous than Zayn was hoping for but Louis can’t help it. He is _well_ past buzzed and quickly on his way to completely pissed with whatever this swill is that Niall has all brought them to the club to help sell. 

Well. It’s not _swill_ , as it’s loaded with sugar and Louis has probably had about three more glasses of it than he should have, but it’s certainly potent. 

Anyway, Louis is pretty drunk and Zayn is at least a little bit too (he’s started giggling almost under his breath at everything anyone says) and apparently Mean Harry is here. Louis has half a mind to stomp right over to him and start yelling about -- something. He’s sure there’s something he can yell at Harry about. Louis had all sorts of plans about starting the summer park season off right before Mean Harry came into town and ruined all of that by telling him he couldn’t do any of it just because the town was a little bankrupt. 

“I’m gonna tell him a piece of my mind,” Louis says suddenly, slamming his glass of Snake Juice (™ Niall Horan) onto the table in front of him and standing up decisively and almost entirely steady. Zayn giggles and holds out a hand like he’s going to make sure Louis doesn’t fall over. 

“That’s probably not a good idea,” he says, but he’s smiling his little scrunched-nose smile and so Louis can’t help but smile back. 

“It is. It is,” he repeats, and nods, and then turns around to try to spot Harry before storming up to him, because he is seriously very drunk and he should probably have a destination in mind first. 

“Are you _sure_ you saw Mean Harry?” Louis asks after he does a first sweep of the bar and doesn’t spot anyone in a sweater vest or a dumb skinny tie or what Louis is fairly sure is a Member’s Only jacket, which he wasn’t aware existed outside of 1985. 

“I mean, I’m pretty sure,” Zayn says, popping up next to Louis and resting his chin on Louis’s shoulder as he scans the crowd with him. “Oh, yeah, there he is, right next to Liam.” He points, like Louis doesn’t know what Liam looks like even though he has been in town as long as Mean Harry has, also telling Louis he can’t do anything because there’s no money, but at least Liam has said it looking a bit like a very sad puppy dog. Also, Liam hasn’t actually said Louis and his team can’t do anything, just asked Mean Harry if there was anything they could do. Mean Harry has always, without fail, said “No,” earning him the name Mean Harry. Louis came up with it. He’s very proud. 

Wait, what was he supposed to be doing? Oh, right, finding Mean Harry to give him a piece of his mind. 

“I’m looking right at Liam, and I don’t see Mean Harry anywhere,” Louis says, a little annoyed. 

“He’s right there, I promise. If you don’t believe me, go ask Liam.” Zayn sinks back down into his chair and pulls Louis’s glass towards him, since his own is now empty. “And bring back another Snake Juice when you’re done yelling, alright babe?” 

Louis looks back over his shoulder in time to see Zayn smile dreamily at him. Louis just nods and makes a beeline for Liam. 

“Lee-yum,” Louis says as he reaches him, misjudging the distance just a little bit and slamming a little too hard into Liam’s side. “Oops.” He reaches out one hand as if to steady himself and sets it on Liam’s chest, and then he just. Doesn’t move. 

“Louis Tomlinson!” Liam says happily, grinning at him. “This is a fantastic night. Harry and I are having a lot of fun.” 

“But Mean Harry’s not _here_ ,” Louis says, a little confused. The man standing next to Liam -- the tall, very handsome, heavily tattooed man with a long mess of curls falling all around his face -- looks even more confused than Louis. 

“I _am_ here,” he says slowly, and it’s Mean Harry’s voice coming out of this -- well, Louis can’t help but say _incredibly fucking fit_ \-- man’s mouth. 

"What," Louis says flatly. Now that he's looking at it, the radically unbuttoned shirt this man is wearing _does_ match the one Mean Harry was wearing earlier, though that one was, of course, buttoned up to his neck and wrists. "Humph," Louis says, emphatically. He's not quite sure what that means. It might be that he's starting to recognize that this man that, okay, Louis may have been drooling over -- not _drooling_ drooling, just staring maybe a little too hard -- anyway, this guy might actually be the same person who keeps fucking up Louis's job, who Louis spends most of his time very angry with. But besides the almost completely unbuttoned shirt and the hundreds of terrible tattoos (Louis is _pretty sure_ he saw a _butterfly_ on his stomach, jesus), there's still one thing very different.

"Oh, your _hair_ ," Louis says when he figures it out and then, completely against his will, he reaches up to tug a long curl falling in Harry's face. "Don't tell me this hair is fake, it's so gorgeous."

"No, it's my own," Harry says, now sounding a little amused. 

"I don't believe you're really Mean Harry then, I've never seen this at work."

"I pull it back when I'm at work," Harry says, and yep, he's definitely trying not to laugh. Louis frowns, and turns to Liam, but Liam's gone. When Louis looks back at Harry, he's pulling his hair back in demonstration. "See? I try to be professional."

"It's not working very well," Louis mutters, but he doesn't mean it. Harry actually _does_ look more professional, but Louis has started to much prefer him with his hair down. "If you keep pulling it back like that you're gonna ruin your hairline," Louis points out, and Harry frowns. 

"I know," he says. "But my bosses don't like me to wear it down, and I can't bring myself to cut it." 

"It is pretty nice," Louis says wistfully, and then abruptly wishes he had a drink in his hand so he could avoid that very pleased look on Harry's face and the sudden burst of warm feelings in his stomach. About Mean Harry, of _all people_. Louis frowns. "Will you get me another Snork Juice?" he sort-of-demands. 

Harry looks at him, brow all furrowed, and says "That might not be the best idea, Louis. And I think it's called Snake Juice, actually." 

Louis scoffs in disgust. "I knew you weren't Fun Harry. Grimmy!"

Tall, obnoxious Nick Grimshaw, Niall's friend in all his weird schemes, immediately shows up at Louis' side, his ridiculously big hair still bouncing from his sprint across the club. "Yes," he says, just a bit breathlessly and ridiculously in awe, the way he always is of Louis.

"Dance up on me," Louis says, and grabs Nick's dumb skinny tie and pulls him to the dance floor with him. "Wait, get me a Snack Juice first." He pushes Nick towards the bar, and Nick spins around once to say "Aye aye, cap'n," with a little salute. Louis cocks his head at him, because that is a seriously weird thing to say, even for Grimmy. Grimmy must agree, because he absolutely winces at himself as he turns around. Louis grins. He knows he's hot enough to fluster people sometimes but it's still nice to get the confirmation, you know?

Louis looks after Grimmy dancing over to the bar for a minute, and then, through no fault of his own, his eyes just kinda drift over to look at Harry. Harry is standing in the same spot Louis left him, looking right back at him and frowning a little. Louis resists the urge to stick his tongue out at him and turns around. 

When he gets home that night, he’s very drunk and just a little horny, like he always is when he drinks. He slides a hand into his pants while he’s lying in bed, and if he just _happens_ to think about long curly hair and ridiculous tattoos, no one knows but him.

-

Louis starts the next morning sitting straight up in his chair, he swears he does, but it’s not long before he’s drifted a bit sideways, and then not long after that before he’s fully on the floor, head under his desk and legs straight out. He tries to do work, but also the florescent lights are much, much too bright, and it’s hard to do work while your eyes are closed.

“Ni?” he calls out about half past nine, when he hears the door to their shared office open and a bunch of noises that sound like a hungover Irishman tumbling into the room.

There’s an answering grunt from over at Niall’s desk but no other acknowledgment. Louis takes that as his cue to start talking again. 

“Please don’t ever try to convince me again that going out on a weeknight is a good idea.” 

Niall groans. “Sorry, mate. I forgot Snake Juice packs a wallop.” 

Louis snorts, and then immediately groans because dear god, his _head_. “You’re telling me,” he says. 

“Hey, did I see you talking to Harry last night?” 

Louis frowns. “No,” he says stubbornly. 

“Really?” Niall asks slyly. It sounds like he’s grinning. Louis is going to murder him. In the least pleasant manner possible. “Because Grimmy told me he ‘rescued’ you from Harry last night.” 

Louis kicks his right leg out once in protest. “Everything about that is wrong,” he says, even though none of it is. 

“I thought it might be, because can you really trust Grimmy? But then I talked to Zayn, and he said every word was true.” Niall sounds entirely too gleeful for someone as hungover as he should be. Also, Louis is going to murder Zayn, too, although more nicely than when he murders Niall. Just because they’re best friends. 

“None of that is true!” Louis insists, and Niall just says “Okay,” and sounds incredibly amused. Louis frowns and crosses his arms over his chest. 

“I think you and Harry would make a cute couple, actually,” Niall says after a few minutes, sounding like he’s actually put _thought_ into this, what the _fuck_.

“I am never dating Mean Harry,” Louis says imperiously. 

“When he’s not telling us we can’t do anything, he’s actually really nice. Kind of a giant nerd, but you like that, right?” 

“Only because you think things like ‘caring about the state of our town’ is nerdy. You know that’s kind of _part of your job_ , Niall.” 

“That’s why the town has you, Lou.”

Louis knows that Niall is only saying that to get on his good side, but it still makes him stick his chest out in pride anyway. That is why the town has him. The town is pretty lucky, in Louis’s opinion, though honestly he thinks he’s the lucky one, to be born here like he was. 

There’s a knock on the door a few minutes later, when Louis is lost deep in thought about all the great things he’s going to do for the town as soon as...the town has money again, he guesses. 

“Louis?” 

Louis shoots straight up and immediately bashes his head on the underside of his desk. “Fuck shit goddamn,” he says, groaning and slowly crawling out from under his desk, one hand on his throbbing head and stars in his eyes. Not enough stars to hide the fact that yes, Harry is suddenly kneeling next to him, looking very concerned and very much like Mean Harry again, hair pulled back and shirt buttoned to his wrists and neck. Louis would bet a million pounds he has a binder with him, too. 

“Shit, Louis, are you okay?” Louis has closed his eyes again but Harry certainly sounds concerned, and then -- oh wow -- there’s a surprisingly large hand gently cradling the exact spot of his head that hit his desk. It’s _incredibly_ nice. Louis involuntarily lets out a soft moan. There’s something that sounds suspiciously like a laugh from over near Niall’s desk, and Louis opens his eyes so he can shoot a glare over at him. 

Before he can, though, he looks directly into Harry’s eyes. Harry smiles when he does, and Louis can see it in his eyes -- they’re fucking _sparkling_ , like he’s a fairy or something. 

“Better?” Harry asks, so softly that Louis doesn’t think Niall can even hear him. Louis inhales and then nods and smiles back. He reaches up a hand to wrap around Harry’s still on his head. 

“Thank you,” he says, just as softly. 

They both stay there for maybe a minute too long, gazes locked on each other, dumb smiles on their faces. 

Then the phone starts ringing and Niall groans, and Louis snaps out of it, at least a little bit. 

“Answer that,” he says to Niall, who groans again but does, and that’s when Louis drops his hand from Harry’s and sits up a little straighter. Harry drops his hand, too, but otherwise doesn’t move, which means Louis kind of forces his way into Harry’s space, and it’s a little obvious when Harry’s eyes drop down to Louis’s lips and then back up. Louis can’t help it -- he grins. 

“Why are you here, Harry?” 

“Um. Oh!” And Harry reaches behind him to pluck his binder off the floor and stands, knees cracking just a little audibly. Louis frowns, a little sad (which, _what_.) that whatever just happened is apparently over, but then Harry reaches a hand down. Louis smiles a small smile and takes Harry’s hand and lets him pull Louis to his feet. 

“I wanted to talk about this budget you proposed for the start of the summer season in the parks,” Harry says pretty much the second that Louis is standing on his own two feet, and Louis’s frown comes back in full force. _There’s_ the Mean Harry he’s used to.

“What _about_ the budget?” Louis grumbles, and he _knows_ he sounds like a petulant baby but he honestly can't help it. Harry might be cute, and apparently nerdy (which, okay, Louis did suspect, judging by the way he dresses for work alone -- his skinny ties always manage to complement the weird patterns on his button-downs), but Harry's main job at work apparently seems to be _making Louis's job a living hell_. 

"It's a little large, Louis, especially this section here that you've allotted to something called _The Town Cup_?" Harry opens his binder on Louis's desk, _right over_ some papers that are probably pretty important, he's not sure, he hasn't actually had a chance to clean off his desk today. But _most likely_ Harry is disturbing the delicate ecosystem that is Louis's desk. 

"The Town Cup is without a doubt the most important thing the Parks Department does, and probably the most important thing the town does, too. You can mess with a lot of stuff, Styles, but _don't touch The Town Cup_!" Louis is breathing a little heavily when he finishes talking, and Harry has his brow furrowed at him, but when Louis looks over at Niall, he's slumped over his desk, looking hungover but also like he'll fight for the existence of The Town Cup along with Louis. Good. Louis nods at Niall, takes half a second to pretend like that didn't make his headache worse, and looks back at Harry.

Harry is now holding both hands up in front of him, eyes wide. "Okay," he says slowly, placatingly, like one might say to a person they're worried might snap. "I understand," he says after another long moment. "But Louis. You understand the town is broke, right?"

Louis frowns and crosses his arms over his chest. "Yes," he says shortly. 

"Yeah. So. It might be a little hard to do this big town-wide thing. Especially at this cost." Harry waves a hand towards his binder again, and Louis's frown just gets deeper. 

"But it's _important_ ," Louis insists. If he were a tad less professional, he might be stamping a foot in tantrum right now. "It's officially the start of summer. It's -- everyone will be expecting it, Harry. It needs to be done." Louis looks up into Harry's eyes, but when all he sees is pitying kindness, he flicks his gaze back to Harry's binder. "I can't let my team be the one that canceled The Town Cup." He says it quietly, half hoping that Harry doesn't even hear it. Harry's quiet enough for long enough that Louis starts to wonder if maybe he _didn't_ hear him, but when he looks back up at Harry's face there's a look on it that might be half pity but also looks understanding. 

"Hey," Harry says, and there's a tiny smile on his face. "You wanna get a drink?"

Louis looks at the clock on his wall. "It's ten in the morning," he says, but Harry just shrugs. 

"Hair of the dog that bit ya. C'mon." And he picks up his binder and leaves Louis's office, keeping the door open behind him for Louis. Louis looks over at Niall, who's grinning at him. 

"I can't wait 'til you two get married," Niall says, and Louis balls up a sheet of paper and throws it at him. 

"Shut up," he says, and follows Harry out of the building.

-

Harry takes him to a pub on the edge of town that Louis has actually never seen before, and he can't help but say something to Harry, who shrugs.

"I don't know many people yet," he says, in his deep drawl. Louis has started to really, really like it, and feels like maybe he could sit around all day and just listen to Harry talk, about nothing in particular. "But I like to explore," he continues. "This is a pretty nice town. People can be very friendly, if a little -" and here he glances at Louis, a smile creeping across his face - "-opinionated, y'know?"

"I haven't the faintest idea to whom you could be referring," Louis says, but he's smiling. He's started to smile around Harry a lot today, and he's not sure he can stop. 

Harry holds the door to the pub open for Louis, and Louis takes the opportunity to duck his head and try to get his smile under control. It’s futile, but oh well. 

"Hey Tom," Harry says to the man behind the bar as they take seats at the counter. 

"Harry! Nice t'see ya," Tom says, shaking Harry's hand. "And who's this you've brought?" He holds out his hand for Louis to shake.

"This is Louis," Harry says, before Louis's public servant manners kick in.

"Louis Tomlinson, Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation."

"Hey," Tom says slowly as they shake hands. He holds on for a little too long, looking like something's dawning on him. "Are you in charge of The Town Cup?"

Louis chances a quick little glance over at Harry, who's looking at Tom's and Louis's hands with a slight frown. "I am," he says. "I was the one who brought it back five years ago, when I started with the Parks Department."

Tom finally lets go of Louis's hand and laughs a big hearty laugh. "Good," he says. "It was my favorite thing as a kid, and it's nice to pass that on to me own."

"Exactly!" Louis exclaims. "That’s exactly why I brought it back. I loved going to it as a kid, and I wanted to see my brother and sisters enjoy it just like I did. And now they’ve never known a time without it.” 

“Hopefully they never will,” Tom says, and then nods at the two of them. “What can I get ya? First one’s on the house.” 

Harry tries to protest but Tom waves a hand like it’s no big deal, and then gets them their pints quickly before heading to the other end of the bar, giving them the semblance of privacy in their own little corner.

It feels -- it feels a bit like a date. 

Louis finds that he doesn’t really mind.

They drink in silence for a few minutes, both of them glancing at each other every once in a while and having to fight back big wide smiles. Louis feels like a kid again, and he almost wants to kick his right leg out, see if he can hook his ankle around Harry’s where he’s sitting on the barstool next to him. 

Then Harry clears his throat, like he’s about to say something important. Louis turns to him fully, grin stretched across his face. 

“Yes?” he prompts when Harry fails to do anything besides smile softly back at him. 

“Oh, right,” Harry says, like he forgot what he was going to say. Louis swoons internally -- he does very much enjoy flustering pretty boys. “Louis,” Harry says seriously. 

“Harry,” Louis says in the same tone of voice, except he’s trying not to laugh. 

“You know I don’t mean anything by it when I say you can’t do anything because of the budget, right? It’s just that your town is _very_ broke. I have your best interests at heart, though, I swear.” Harry holds up his hands in front of his chest in defense, eyes wide and very innocent looking. Even if Louis still had it in him to be mad about Harry doing his job, he wouldn’t after seeing that face. He sighs. 

“I know,” he says. “And honestly, I’m almost surprised it took this long, with the way Mayor Cowell spends money. Did you know we had a town music competition last year just like the ones on TV, complete with a hundred thousand pound prize?”

“I did see something about that,” Harry says, screwing up his face like he’s trying not to laugh. Louis laughs, though, because it was just _so_ ridiculous, so Harry laughs too. 

“Honestly. Only Simon Cowell,” Louis says when he’s calmed down to just giggles. “Although he did start this thing the local government does every Christmas, where we have a big party and tell insider jokes about the year that was. I personally think he did it just so he could throw me a big birthday party before the holiday.”

“Oh, are you a December baby?” Harry asks. Louis nods. 

“Christmas Eve, actually. When I was little I used to think all the lights and decorations were just for me. I still do, a little.” 

Harry smiles, and then reaches over and puts his hand on Louis’s. “That sounds really nice.” 

He says it so _sincerely_ , looking directly into Louis’s eyes, that all Louis can do is sigh happily and smile back at him. 

“It is,” he says softly. Harry keeps his gaze for a few more moments before squeezing his hand and then dropping it, looking back at his drink. Louis can’t take his eyes off him, though, watching as Harry swallows. “Anyway, I know you’re just doing your job,” he blurts out, and when Harry looks back over at him Louis shakes his head and stops watching Harry’s throat. 

“I am,” Harry says earnestly, a knowing smile on his face like he saw where Louis’s gaze was fixed. Louis blushes. 

“I get that,” he says. “But I’m just trying to do mine, too, and part of that is making sure the people who count on things like the parks being open for their kids or The Town Cup kicking off the summer aren’t disappointed.”

“What _is_ The Town Cup anyway?” 

“Isn’t it obvious?” Louis asks. When Harry shakes his head, he scoffs. “It’s our version of the World Cup. It’s smaller, so we can have it every year instead of every four years. We take all the football rec leagues and split them into three age groups of two teams each. Whichever team has the most age groups win gets the cup.”

“Wow,” Harry says. “That’s a great way to do that. So everyone can play, but you also don’t have four-year-olds competing against middle-aged men.” 

“Exactly,” Louis says, smiling. “And it’s not split by gender, so the girls’ and the boys’ teams play together. That’s the part I added when I brought it back.” 

Harry smiles at him. “That’s really nice, Louis.”

“Yeah,” Louis says, and the two of them get lost in staring and smiling at each other again. At least, until Tom suddenly appears in front of them, clearing his throat. 

“Can I get those out of the way for ya?” he asks, pointing to their mostly empty pint glasses. 

“Oh,” Louis says, looking at them. He hadn’t even realized he’d had so much. “Sure.” 

Tom nods and sweeps them away, and then says, “Another?” 

Louis looks at Harry, who shakes his head. “I think we’ve got to be getting back, right Lou?” 

Louis grins, wide and happy, at the nickname. “Yeah, I think so.” 

Harry nods. “Just the check, then, Tom.” 

Before Louis can protest that _he’s_ going to pay, Tom shakes his head. “On the house. You can pay me back with a pint at The Cup,” he says to Louis, who glances at Harry. Harry looks resigned, and Louis is pretty sure he’s won that battle. 

“I will,” he says to Tom, leaning over the bar to shake his hand again. “A lovely establishment you’ve got here, sir. I’ll definitely be back.” 

“Good to know,” Tom says. Harry waves and then quietly follows Louis as he leaves the building. 

“Well! That was a very nice drink,” Louis says as they head into the sunshine of the mid-morning. Harry puts a hand on Louis’s shoulder to get him to stop walking. When Louis turns around to look at him, wondering what he’s doing, Harry moves his hand from Louis’s shoulder to his cheek, and then leans in and kisses him. 

The kiss is altogether too short and lasts a thousand years. Louis lets out a soft moan, one hand going up to Harry’s hair -- which is still pulled back into his work ponytail. He yanks it, just enough to break the kiss. He grins. 

“I was wondering when you were gonna do that, Styles.” 

Harry laughs, one hand going to reverently touch his lips. “We’ll have to do it again sometime.” 

“With your hair down, I think,” Louis muses, and Harry’s eyes go dark. 

Oh, this is going to be fun.


End file.
